Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, who spearheaded the failed effort to install Councilwoman at large Viola Richardson as the nine-member body’s president, said at last night’s council meeting that Healy’s veto of her measure amounts to “Hague Era” politics.

“This philosophy is ‘machine politics,’ and I reject it,” Lopez said to a round of applause from the crowd of about 100.

The council last month adopted Lopez’s measure, which would have called for an immediate election of council president, who is chosen by a vote of the council. The ordinance called for future council presidents to serve for two years, instead of the current four-year term.

But Healy vetoed the ordinance last week, calling it a “wholly nonsensical” measure that “dangerously destabilizes” the office of council president. He also dismissed Lopez’s previous claims that the council could use a female leader.

“While I highly value a woman’s perspective, as demonstrated by the fact that I selected Councilwoman Lopez to run on my ticket in 2009, as well as her choice for council president, Viola Richardson, gender is a patently impressible reason to remove anyone from office,” he writes in the veto.

“The municipal council is the legislative body of this city government, which means we are the lawmakers,” she said. “And in this capacity we have the power … to propose, amend and create new laws as we see fit.”

The two women also took issue with Healy’s claim that he values a “woman’s perspective.”

Referencing the three women who ran on Healy’s 2009 ticket, Richardson said, “Three out of nine does not speak to any value for women.”

Brennan was unanimously elected as council president in 2009, after former councilman Mariano Vega stepped down from the post. Vega resigned from the council altogether a year later after pleading guilty to corruption charges.

After Richardson was elected as an at-large council member in a November special election – she had previously held the Ward F seat – members of the council began floating the idea of making her the council president.

Lopez’s measure was adopted with a simple majority, with Lopez and Richardson joined by council members David Donnelly, Rolando Lavarro and Steve Fulop in favor. Brennan and council members Bill Gaughan Michele Massey and Michael Sottolano voted against.

Lopez would need a sixth vote to overturn Healy’s veto. In a statement issued today, Healy said he stands by the veto.

This is the democratic process and the rules under which we govern,” he said. “These two council members tried to circumvent those rules and illegally and unjustly change them for a political power grab.”

He added: “What I did was to uphold the laws of our city and our state, while what they did is the perfect example of politics at its worst.”